Soybeans Retreat from Eight-Week High on South America Outlook

Soybeans fell from an eight-week high in Chicago on expectations that crops will benefit from favorable soil moisture in Brazil, the world’s top exporter, and rain in Argentina. Wheat advanced.

Rain this week will eliminate dryness concerns in northeast Brazil, with some areas expected to receive 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) in the next five days, Commodity Weather Group said today in a report. Argentina may see rain in the next two days after some precipitation during the past weekend, and further showers will occur in the six- to 10-day period, it said.

"Favorable weather forecasts for Brazil and Argentina are shifting the focus back to the forthcoming supply from South America, which is thought to be very high," Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in an e-mailed report. "Once this supply becomes available from February, prices should decline noticeably."

Soybeans for delivery in January lost 0.5 percent to $13.1325 a bushel at 7:34 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices reached $13.22, the highest since Sept. 27, in the prior session on signs of stronger demand for U.S. supplies. The oilseed still dropped 6.8 percent this year as global production may increase to a record 283.5 million metric tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts.

Production in Brazil is set to reach a record 88 million tons in the 2013-14 season and Argentina’s harvest may jump 8.5 percent to 53.5 million tons, according to the USDA. Soybean planting in Brazil is 79 percent complete, according to researcher AgRural.

Corn for delivery in March was little changed at $4.295 a bushel. The most-active contract tumbled 38 percent this year as the U.S. harvest rebounded from last year’s drought.

Wheat for delivery in March gained 0.6 percent to $6.6125 a bushel. In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in January rose 0.2 percent to 207 euros ($279) a ton on NYSE Liffe.